Cizikas no longer seeing red

Updated 11:38 pm, Tuesday, November 27, 2012

BRIDGEPORT -- One change in shade makes all the difference. Monday, Casey Cizikas had to wear red. Tuesday, he was in orange.

The red meant his injury rehabilitation wouldn't allow him to take contact. Orange? He's a real hockey player again.

Nice to put the red away?

"I hate that thing," Cizikas said with a laugh and a shake of the head and a funny extra word we should probably leave out.

Cizikas has been out of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers' lineup since Nov. 11, when the centerman appeared to take some kind of contact to the head (the team hasn't confirmed injury details).

Tuesday was his first full practice since then, and he could return Friday at Hershey.

"I think so," Cizikas said. "A couple of more good days of practice, a couple of hard workouts, and get ready for the weekend."

His rookie season earned him a trip to the AHL all-star weekend last year. He had eight points in 11 games to start this year. But he wasn't thrilled with his start.

"It's definitely frustrating," Cizikas said. "I like to think of myself as a two-way forward. I take pride in that."

The most-widely available stat that attempts to measure that combination of offense and defense -- flawed as it may be, especially for a forward --- is plus/minus, the aggregate of goals for and goals against while a player is on the ice.

Cizikas is a team-low minus-6. He knows the number well enough to recite it. He's not happy about it.

"With Casey, you know what you're going to get, game-in, game-out," Pellerin said. "The work ethic, the intensity, the second-effort."

As Cizikas got the red shirt off, Ty Wishart donned it, but Pellerin was hopeful the defenseman, who missed Saturday's game with an undisclosed and presumed minor injury, would be back to full contact Wednesday.